I started writing this piece on the first day of autumn and it couldn’t have been more enticing. I drove up to New Bridge, upstream on the Dart and enjoyed a blissfully solitary walk, enjoying the gently changing colours on…

Well it’s now the end of May, and it’s time to put this blog to bed before June starts! It’s been a period of great contrasts, on the one hand frustrated with my seeming lack of progress health wise but…

March has been overly busy in an all too familiar sort of way. The porch was completed, and the hall redecorated all of which took up time and energy even though I wasn’t doing any of the work.  And of…

This year the snowdrops along the river bank have been stunning, as unlike last year, we’ve got through the month without any major flooding. And there has been a noticeable change in activity on the river, with pairs of mallards…

Rooted is part of the  phrase that consistently “spoke” to me during the exercise I wrote about in December. I said to myself that it has more to do with “rooted in God” than “rooted in Staverton”. But as the…

One year, probably about 10 years ago, I made my own Christmas chutney, mincemeat and the pies, Christmas cake, Christmas pudding –  you get the drift, I was “into” preparing for the festivities big time. I didn’t stop cooking, decorating,…

I have a strong memory of lying by the fire on the sitting room floor at the house in the Yorkshire Dales I lived in from the age of 13. I was listening to a Leonard Cohen LP on our…

Flying back in to Gatwick last week, expecting to see bare trees and a cold, grey landscape I was amazed as I looked down at the stunning colours on the treetops, a rare event in late October, when autumn winds…

If anyone’s noticing, I’m writing this piece way early this month. Really with the idea of “getting ahead”  as I can’t see many free days now til the end of the month. Somehow I’ve got busy again, and I’m not…

August has flown by, it’s been the busiest month at Retreat by the Dart since I started offering retreats 3 years ago. Yesterday after all the visitors had departed and washing was on the line, I had some time to…